Author
Topic: New old bloke checking in (Read 916 times)

Hi, this looks like a great place.I've been lusting after a Royal Enfield Bullet on and off since 1980, when I first heard they were still making them in India. But, you know how it is, weeks turn into years, on it goes.Couple of weeks ago the thought came up again, only this time I googled it. I discovered these gorgeous new machines, the idea took hold, and then I found out there's a dealer just twenty miles up the road.....Can you see where this is going?I went and had a look. I fell in love with the DL version of the Electra EFI - chrome tank with rubber knee pads, chrome mudguards, nice hand painted gold details. I've hardly slept all week, and the days have been unsettled too. How was I going to get this machine, I have no money. I do have credit cards. I don't owe any money. The little voice persisted. It's your birthday on saturday. You'll be sixty. If not now - WHEN??

Well, I went out this morning and bought my bike, which is being delivered tomorrow on my birthday. I've had sleepless nights and general unsettlement all week just grappling with doubts and the dread of buyer remorse on a grand scale (I've literally never spent so much money all at once in my whole life - let alone money I haven't got...!), but I drove in early this morning determined to let it flow where I already knew it would if mind would just shut up. Sat on the bike, made sure I could lift it onto its stand, just gazed really, at its irresitible gorgeousness, heard that ace cafe north circular exhaust thud thud thud rise to an awesome roar, clearly saw the ride down to the coast, thundering through quiet lanes terrifying children and old ladies, stampeding cattle and shaking all the best china off the shelves in sleepy Devon villages. Calm certainty prevailed, a nod, hands were shaken, and the miracle of unearned credit did its wondrous work. I went now to a bike place I'd seen, to buy necessary gear. I didn't like it - acres of flash bright japanese missile bike stuff, and staffed by fourteen year olds. I spotted an older bloke at a desk and asked if there was anywhere else. Insider information was now revealed to me, and a trip across to the other side of Exeter brought me to a hidden emporium filled with biker treasure and peopled by solid old no bullshit biker folk, and I got helmet, jacket and gloves, promising to return on the iron horse for boots and trousers, saddlebags too for trips away. On the drive home a great wave of emotion overwhelmed me, laughter and tears and absolute knowing that nothing was wrong.I will sleep soundly tonight. The money will come, it always does.No nerves yet, even though I've not been on two wheels for forty years, Tiger Cub, BSA Bantam, Lambretta (sorry). Got a full licence though.Please, let it stop raining.....Cheers all, I'll report back soon.Will

Br. Will, I welcome you to our forum and congratulate on your decision, which -- I am quite sure -- you will not regret. In addition and equally important, I wish you a Very Happy 60th Birthday and Very Many Happy Miles on your new Bullet!!!

Welcome Will and many congratulatuions! You won't regret it, I promise you. Take it easy, run the bike in carefully and give yourself time to get back into riding but most of all enjoy it. This bike is unique and wonderful.

All good things come to those who wait. I had a Triumph Cub then a Lambretta LD (3gears shaft driven) 1966-70 then emigrated from UK to Australia and no bike since. Enjoyed humming around a resort here on a scooter on holiday a few months ago and my wife said" so why don't you get one!!!!!!"3 weeks later on 23rd Dec i picked up my black C5. Had lots of fun, roaming both country lanes but also traffic and now approx 1500km. Gets better every day.I turn 60 in JuneHave funPeter

Welcome Will. Sounds like you bought an Enfield for completely irrational reasons. Which are exactly the right reasons by the way. With an RE, it's your heart, not your head that you're trying to satisfy. You're going to have a lot of fun. For us older guys who grew up on primitive bikes, everytime we kick an Enfield to life, it becomes a fountain of youth.